ART. 5 EXCAVATION" AND REPAIR OF BETATAKIN JUDD 13 



were surfaced; traces of plaster also remain on the northwest, or 

 cliff, side. 



Incised drawings appear in the smoke-blackened plaster of all four 

 walls. (Fig. 1.) On the north half of the southwest wall 22 parallel 

 and approximately vertical lines varying in length from 1 to 4 inches 

 have been scratched. Other scratches occur below this group, but no 

 geometric design is distinguishable among them. So-called " pot- 

 tery " or " basket " designs were incised in the plaster of the south- 

 east wall. 



A south corner roof opening, 17 by 29 inches (0.43 by 0.73 m.), 

 had been cut through after completion of the ceiling and perhaps 

 after conversion of the room. This hatchway, 8 inches from the 

 southwest wall, was rimmed with slabs on all except the southeast 

 side; its inner jambs, above the cross poles, were plastered with 

 adobe and chinked with small spalls. Two feet from the west cor- 

 ner and 13 inches above the floor a former southwest door, 17 by 29 

 inches (0.43 by 0.73 m.), had been carefully blocked from the out- 

 side, leaving its inner sill exposed to form a shelf 5 inches wide. 



In the south corner an opening, 12 inches (0.31 m.) high by 17 

 inches (0.43 m.) wide, formerly pierced the southeast wall at the 

 floor level; its east jamb sloped to the west. Externally this venti- 

 lator was a full third less than its inner dimensions. Apparently it 

 did not prove entirely satisfactory, for it had been closed with 

 masonry from the inside and a second vent, 12 inches (0.31 m.) high 

 by 11 inches (0.27 m.) wide, cut through the southwest wall flush 

 with the south corner and 9 inches above the floor. The slab sill of 

 this second opening slopes upward to the level of court 10. Within 

 the room and directly below this latter vent are the remains of a 

 shallow, basinlike depression, 16 inches (0.41 m.) in diameter by 

 1% inches (0.038 m.) deep. Formerly a ladder extended through 

 the hatchway directly above this depression. A slab fire screen, 24 

 inches (0.61 m.) wide by 25 inches (0.64 m.) high by 1% inches 

 (0.034 m.) thick, abuts the southeast wall 27 inches (0.69 m.) from 

 the south corner. Eight inches east of this screen and 5 inches 

 (0.13 m.) from the southeast wall is a fireplace whose dimensions 

 average 16 by 18 by 7 inches deep (0.41 by 0.46 by 0.17 m.) ; it is 

 lined and paved with slabs and its inner corners rounded with adobe. 

 The ceiling willows above this fireplace had been plastered with 

 mud — a simple, protective measure that might have been followed 

 profitably by other prehistoric house builders. 



Our repairs were confined largely to the southwest wall. In 

 addition, we propped a cracked ceiling beam with a cedar post set 

 on a sandstone slab ; and placed, through the hatchway, a pole ladder 

 fitted with oak rundles. 



